Bayerotrochus teramachii
Encyclopedia
Bayerotrochus teramachii, is a species
of sea snail
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Pleurotomariidae
.
is oval, the slit is positioned roughly halfway between the periphery and the suture and is relatively long, about 21 percent of the circumference. The shell is lightly sculptured with numerous spiral cords over 30 above the selenizone (the area where the shell growth filled in the slit) and 17 to 19 spiral cords below the selenizone, crossed by strong axial growth lines which gives the affect of a coarse rectangular pattern. The cords are made up of very fine hemispherical beads. The base has fine microscopically beaded spiral cords. The protoconch
and primary whorls are a dull cream color or white, the rest of the shell is a golden orange, with a golden metalic iridescent sheen. The entire teleoconch (body whorls) has deep orange axial streaks and flammules. The selenizone has 4 to 5 spiral cords and is usually concave in profile. The base is the same base color as the body, and the interior of the aperture is thinly nacreous (pearly). The operculum
is roughly circular, light brown, multispiral, and chitinous. Size range: 64 to 175 mm diameter.
to the South China Sea
, and across to Indonesia
and the Philippines
.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of sea snail
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Pleurotomariidae
Pleurotomariidae
Pleurotomariidae, common name the '"slit snails", is a family of large marine gastropods in the clade Vetigastropoda. This family is very ancient; there were numerous species in the geological past. It is currently represented by a group of species that live only in deep water...
.
Description
The shell has a depressed turbinate shape with an apical spire angle of approximately 98 degrees, with inflated body whorls that are exponential in expansion, a clearly impressed suture, and the periphery is rounded and indistinct. The base is highly inflated with a small columellar callus at the center covering roughly 22 percent of the base area. The apertureAperture (mollusc)
The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....
is oval, the slit is positioned roughly halfway between the periphery and the suture and is relatively long, about 21 percent of the circumference. The shell is lightly sculptured with numerous spiral cords over 30 above the selenizone (the area where the shell growth filled in the slit) and 17 to 19 spiral cords below the selenizone, crossed by strong axial growth lines which gives the affect of a coarse rectangular pattern. The cords are made up of very fine hemispherical beads. The base has fine microscopically beaded spiral cords. The protoconch
Protoconch
A protoconch is an embryonic or larval shell of some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod...
and primary whorls are a dull cream color or white, the rest of the shell is a golden orange, with a golden metalic iridescent sheen. The entire teleoconch (body whorls) has deep orange axial streaks and flammules. The selenizone has 4 to 5 spiral cords and is usually concave in profile. The base is the same base color as the body, and the interior of the aperture is thinly nacreous (pearly). The operculum
Operculum (gastropod)
The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...
is roughly circular, light brown, multispiral, and chitinous. Size range: 64 to 175 mm diameter.
Distribution
This species has been found at depths of 180 to 500 meters over a large area of the North West Pacific from JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
, and across to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.